Lemon Chicken

Last Monday, the world (or maybe just the Chinese?) celebrated the Chinese New Year. Kung Hei Fat Choi 恭喜發財 for Cantonese speaking people. :)

Anyway, since it is the new year, Grace suggested I try a Chinese dish. So I made Lemon Chicken and fried rice.

I tried doing Asian cuisine for the first time, and to be honest, I suck (I haven't even tried doing Adobo). Or maybe I just don't have the right recipe for this dish to taste a little more Chinese-y. It lacks that unique Chinese flavour. Maybe MSG? I don't know. Well, for me, the dish is so-so. I added sugar and honey to make it a little sweeter for my taste (typical Filipino taste) while retaining the citrusy taste of this dish. I added a little fresh parsley I have in the fridge. Although it tastes good, not good enough to make it in the Chinese restaurant. Grace said she wanted it to be more sour. I think the sourness is just enough. I don't like too much sourness in my dish. Something Chinese-y is lacking. Spice?

I just copied this recipe somewhere (sorry, I forgot where), but here's what I did.

1 whole chicken (recipe requires 8 chicken breasts)

4 tbsp soy sauce

salt and pepper

flour*

a dash of paprika*

100mL lemon juice

3 slices of lemon

1.5 cups chicken stock

2 tbsp cornstarch

a dash of garlic powder*

sugar and honey* (optional, to taste)

*not in the original recipe

1. Season the chicken with salt, pepper and soy sauce. Leave it for 30 minutes.

2. Pat dry the chicken and dredge it with flour and paprika. Fry the chicken in oil until golden brown. (If you opt to skip the flour and paprika, fry the chicken breasts in butter). When done, leave it on a plate.

3. Combine the chicken stock, lemon, cornstarch, garlic powder and lemon slices (optional: sugar/honey, to taste) in a sauce pan. Boil until thick. Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve.

Maybe you have a better version of Lemon Chicken. Now, what did I miss? Hmmm